Musings on Buddhism and modern global culture, plus a few miscellaneous topics.

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

The Future of Buddhism in the West: SWOT Analysis

In recent years, Buddhism has been undergoing a rapid expansion in the West, especially America. But what of the future? This article applies a simple SWOT business analysis to the potentials and limitations affecting the growth of Buddhism in the West.

SWOT stands for

- Strengths: characteristics of the 'business' that give it an advantage over others.

- Weaknesses (or Limitations): are characteristics that place the business at a disadvantage relative to others.

- Threats:
external elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the
business. (The threats to Buddhism in countries where is established - eg
Korea, Mongolia, Burma, Thailand - are outside the scope of this
analysis. I hope to look at them in future articles.)

1.5 Convergence with Western Philosophy

Essentialism has taken longer to disappear from philosophy than it has from science. To quote Daniel Dennett:

'Even
today Darwin's overthrow of essentialism has not been completely
assimilated .... the Darwinian mutation, which at first seemed to be
just a new way of thinking about kinds in biology, can spread to other
phenomena and other disciplines, as we shall see. There are persistent
problems both inside and outside biology that readily dissolve once we
adopt the Darwinian perspective on what makes a thing the sort of thing
it is, but the tradition-bound resistance to this idea persists.'
(Daniel Dennett in Darwin's Dangerous Idea , p 39)

But as essentialism declines, newer philosophical approaches such as Process Philosophy are far closer to Buddhist thought than the old 'footnotes to Plato' that have dominated Western Philosophy throughout the Christian era.

1.10 Grieving for dead animals

1.11 No historical baggage

Buddhism
in the West does not have the burden of historical baggage carried by
other religions (inquisition, witch hunts, Galileo, religious wars, 911,
institutionalized child-abuse etc). This is not to say that Buddhism's
record is spotless, but its trangressions are fewer and less well known
in the West than those of the usual suspects.

1.12 Rising status of Buddhism.

At a time when other religions are coming under increasing attack from the 'New Atheists'
for their absurdities, illogicalities and ingrained intolerance,
Buddhism is escaping unscathed. This is possibly in part to due its
lack of an anthropomorphic Samsaric God
(though Buddhism isn't necessarliy atheist), and in part due to its
rising intellectual status, especially among the medical profession.

1.13 'Take what you want' versus 'All or nothing'

One of the attractions of Buddhism is that you can take what you want from it (eg meditation techniques) without being required to swallow a whole load of dogma. This allows people to move into Buddhism at their own speed, as far as they want, by acceptance of those aspects which are useful to them. So Jews, Christians and secularists can all incorporate some Buddhist practices and philosophical views without needing to cease identifying with their cultural or ancestral belief-systems.

1.14 The mindfulness boom and meditation apps

2 WEAKNESSES

2.1 Coldness and aloofness

Buddhism
is sometimes perceived as being cold, intellectual and aloof. This may
in part result from contrasting traditional visual representations of
Buddha and Jesus. Whereas Buddha is portrayed as serene but detached,
Jesus is seen interacting with people.

2.3 Cultural 'otherness' and exclusion

When
the Christian Church spread across pagan Europe, it did so by a process
of 'transculturation', where local pagan customs were adapted rather
than repressed, and given Christian significance. Hence pagan Eostre
became Christian Easter, Yule became Christmas, Imbolc became Candlemas etc. Although
the exocitism of Buddhism has its attractions, this should not be at
the expense of Western Buddhists withdrawing from their traditional
culture and festivals. Like Lisa Simpson in 'She of Little Faith', Western kids won't take to any religion that prevents them celebrating Christmas and Halloween.

2.4 Misunderstanding and Misrepresentation

In the past, Buddhism has often been misrepresented by proponents of other religions, sometimes deliberately, and sometimes out of ignorance.

A favorite accusation is that of idolatry.
As accurate information is now available via the internet, this is
becoming less of a problem. The anti-Buddhist propagandists are simply
making themselves look stupid. For the usual anti-Buddhist arguments, and answers to them, see here.

Nevertheless,
although the claim to be 'spiritual but not religious' has become
something of a cliche, this reflects a need for some form of spiritual nourishment
as an alternative to bleak materialism. This is mostly being filled by
'New Age' spirituality, where you can pick and mix whatever beliefs and
practises you like without any reference to doctrinal authority.

As
meditation and rebirth are popular New Age themes, bits of Buddhism
usually get incorporated into the mix alongside Paganism, Celtic spirituality, crystals, geomancy etc.

3.2 Increasing the awareness of the medical benefits of Buddhist practice.

Although Buddhist meditational techniques have gained orthodox medical approval to an extent unthinkable 20 years ago, there is probably still scope for expansion nere.

3.3 Increasing the awareness of the parallels of Buddhism and science.

3.4 Celebrating the Feminine

The
Abrahamic religions started out as Bronze Age warrior cults, and it
still shows. Their attitude to women, and the feminine side of human
nature in general, varies from bad to appalling. Buddhism can do more
to establish its reputation as the one major religion that doesn't denigrate women.

4 THREATS

4.1 Pop Buddhism and Buddha Chic (revisited)

The
danger of Buddha kitsch is that Buddhism will be trivialized and may
even become to regarded as a quick fix for Samsara (which is, of course,
ultimately unfixable).

Sogyal Rinpoche discusses this threat: "How
will Buddhism in the future find the way to make its fullest
contribution towards the transformation of society? And yet how can we
avoid it being absorbed and neutralized by its encounter with the
contemporary world, so that it is reduced to yet another tool to numb
us, conscripted and ‘integrated’ into western society, to become simply
an interesting offshoot of psychology, a branch of the New Age, or part
of the health movement? Many of the Tibetan masters I know today have
the same concerns and are asking themselves the same questions as
western Buddhists, as we pass through this period of transition
together. They also have concerns of their own. They see a number of
warning signs for the future.

When we see Buddhist images on
advertising hoardings, in Hollywood films and as icons of the chic, it
is a testimony to the popularity of Buddhism, which can be gratifying,
even exhilarating—but at the same time chilling. Because where will the
popularity of Buddhism lead? Are we witnessing the conversion of
Buddhism into a product, something which is quick and easy to master,
and which ignores the patient discipline and application that is really
needed on the Buddhist path, like on any other spiritual path? Then what
are the dangers of trying to make Buddhism too palatable for American
tastes and fashions, so that we are subtly editing or re-writing the
teachings of Buddha? Is there a risk of Buddhism being ‘sold’ too hard,
and being too pushy, even evangelical? Commercial-style grasping seems
foreign to Buddhism, where the emphasis has always been on examining
ourselves. Driven by our compulsive desire for something ‘new’, what
will be the long term result of seeking to put a little bit of knowledge
into action too soon: rushing in too early, only in order to be
productive? My feeling, and that of the masters I know, is that
practicality should never take priority over the authenticity of the
teachings."

4.3 New Age

Another
double-edged sword is the New Age. Although some New Agers may
incorporate selected Buddhist beliefs and practices into their
worldview, there is a danger that authentic dharma will become diluted,
garbled and corrupted by mixing with everything and anything, in
multiple New Age spiritual fruit salads.

4.4 Competing religions.

Apart
from the New Age, which is so syncretistic that it's unclear whether
it's competing or complementary to Buddhism, there are other possible
threats:

4.4.1 Christianity

Although evangelical Christianity is a major threat to Buddhism in traditionally Buddhist countries like Mongolia and Korea,
it doesn't seem to be in competion with Buddhism in the West. This is
probably because most Western Buddhists are people who have already
abandoned their Judeo-Christian religion before developing an interest in
Buddhism, and are unlikely to go back to their ancestral faiths for a
variety of pre-existing reasons.

The current meltdown in the Catholic Church will leave a spiritual vacuum worldwide that something will have to fill, though that something may not be Buddhism.

4.4.2 Paganism

Some versions of paganism, such as Wicca,
are fishing in the same pool as Buddhism, in that they attract
post-Christians who are looking for spirituality without the dogma,
misogyny, judgementalism and homophobia that infest their ancestral
religions.

The jihadist problem is potentially worse for Buddhists than for other religions, since Jews and Christians are allowed to live as
'people of the book', but Buddhists must be exterminated, as Lama Ole Nydahl explains: “If
we go southward in Afghanistan from Mazar-i-Sharif and down to Kandahar
and then east, we will find the old Buddhist core area that was
destroyed by three Muslim invasions over the period from 900 to 1100.
That was Ashoka’s [1] old core area and where Buddhism originated. Later
Islam began to penetrate down through India. And, according to new
Indian research, the Muslims killed some 80 million Indians from ca.
A.D. 1200 up until the English stopped it in the 18th century. We are
talking about Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and others. If you peruse Arabian
sources, the term “budh” — the root word of Buddha and Buddhism —
denotes someone worshipping many gods and whom Muhammed says must be
killed under all circumstances. Who cannot even obtain dhimmi-status.
Even the original Buddhist ‘little road’ through Central Asia was
destroyed by Muslims. So one might say that we have had much to thank
Islam for throughout the years.”

Embarrassing pacifism– Why didn’t the Buddhists fight back?

“Having
a waterproof, completely logical system is very dangerous. When you do,
you will have a tendency to bring all your friends along with you into
an ivory tower and forget all the ordinary people running around down
below. What will people do whose religion resembles a Swiss cheese –
full of holes and devoid of logic and thus standing on feet of clay?
Well, the more porous one's religion is, the more one will try to
convince others in order to convince oneself. All according to the
well-known principle: billions of flies eat manure, billions of flies
cannot be wrong.”

Ole Nydahl emphasizes that there is nothing
wrong with Jesus encouraging his adherents to make all people his
disciples. After all, Nydahl himself tries to convince people of the
blessings of Buddhism. What he rejects is the practice of subjugating
the infidels by means of the sword.

– Are there no examples of Buddhists having taken up arms? Have they all adhered to a radical pacifism?

“Yes,
I’m afraid so. I am not aware of any adequate resistance to aggression.
And that is really embarrassing when you see your wife, your children,
your loved ones, your friends being butchered, and you have not armed
yourself to protect them. It must be terrible...”

Bearing in mind that Jews and Christians, as 'people of the book', are the non-Muslim religions most favored by Muslims, then what percentage of mosques are preaching hatred and contempt for the 'idolatous' Buddhists? 85%? 90%? 99%? Your previous post about the boy beheaded for being Buddhist shows what will happen as the jihad spreads through the West.

Mosques are not places of worship in any normal sense. They are bridgeheads of an aggressive, predatory death-cult.